Different types of protective headgear, such as helmets and hard hats, are typically worn by fire fighters, rescue personnel and in industries where protection of the head from falling debris or the like is necessary. Such industries include, but are not limited to construction and mining.
Oftentimes it is desirable to attach electronic modules, such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, global positioning system (GPS) tags, and natural gas sensor tags to protective headgear. For example, modern day mines often include a miner tracking system so that the location of miners may be tracked for safety purposes. Such systems often include sensors positioned throughout the mine shafts. A miner wears an RFID tag which broadcasts a signal including the identity of the miner wearing the RFID tag. When the miner passes a miner tracking system sensor, the sensor receives the signal from the RFID tag. The sensors communicate with a central computer which tracks the location of miners wearing the RFID tags based on which sensors have received signals from the miners' RFID tags.
Like the other types of electronic modules, RFID tags must receive electrical power to operate. Mining cap lamps are typically mounted on helmets worm by miners to provide illumination in underground mine shafts. Such cap lamps are well known in the mining equipment industry and provide illumination while the miner's hands remain free to perform tasks. A cap lamp typically receives power from a battery power pack secured to the user's waist. Electrical wiring, delivers power from the power pack to the lamp on the helmet. Traditionally, wires have been soldered to the battery terminals of the cap lamp power pack and to the RFID tags so that the RFID tags receive power from the battery of the cap lamp power pack. A problem with such an arrangement, however, is that such modifications are time consuming and inconvenient. In addition, and more importantly, the quality of the soldered connections is often inconsistent which leads to reliability issues, especially in the harsh mining environment. The exposed wires of such a power takeoff are also exposed which makes them even more vulnerable to damage.
Cordless cap lamps, where the battery pack and cap lamp are integrated into a single unit that is worn on the cap, are also known.
The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 requires mines to implement personal tracking, communication, and emergency plans. When individuals are working in hazardous locations such as a mine, emergency prevention and preparedness is a key element in the survival of those individuals. Prevention is the first line of defense (personal atmospheric monitoring and proximity), however, in the event of an emergency, response time is critical to survival. Response time is significantly influenced by the ability to locate each individual in an emergency situation. Tracking tags are key to locating the individuals rapidly.
As regulations continue to drive the need for atmospheric monitoring, tracking and proximity devices, employers will need to deploy the technologies and devices to their workforce. The current devices that an individual may wear are typically singular, self-contained cap lamp systems or units. In view of the above, individuals may be required to carry multiple tag devices that perform different functions in addition to the single self-contained cap lamp unit or system. Each tag device typically has its own self-contained power source. Such an arrangement suffers from a number of disadvantages. For example, self-contained tag devices typically have a power source that is smaller than a cap lamp battery and thus more limited in capacity. In addition, it is difficult to manage the maintenance of individual batteries for each one of the individual tag devices. A number of self-contained devices also increases difficulty of use.
A need therefore exists for a system and method that integrates tag devices and allows for individual and multiple tags to be contained and powered from a single power source.